Earth's Mightiest Defenders Online
by mystakenidentity
Summary: A VRMMORPG called Earth's Mightiest Defenders Online has been released where players control their avatars with their bodies using a piece of technology called Nerve Gear. Players discover they cannot log out, as the game creator is holding them captive unless they reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. their struggle for survival starts now! FrostIron
1. Welcome to EMDO

_Hey guys for those of you who care ... i have not abandoned shield high I'm just not entirely happy with what i've go so far but a chapter will be coming soon... hopefully :)_

_Also a heads up that for this story i will actually be posting once a week ( i'm not just saying that this time) and that is because i've realized that if i half complete the story or at least get 6 chapters a head then i should be able to post once a week even if i fall behind every once in a while._

_**Disclaimer: i do not own the Avengers ( although like all fan girls i wish i did ) nor do i own sword art online which i am basing this story upon ( at least in the beginning) there are going to be differences so if you haven't watched it and like anime then i do suggest watching it cause it's AMAZING ...** _

_On another note if anyone is looking to be a beta i would appreciate it ... so send me a message if your interested  
_

_anyway enjoy :)_

* * *

_May 29__th__ 2022_

"Welcome to MMO stream, Today we are covering the launch of the world's first Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG). Last week Earth's Mightiest Defenders Online (EMDO) was released with gamers all around the world lining up for days frantically to get their hands on a copy on one of the 10,000 copies that were released."

Click

"The Beta testers all said the game was incredible and an out of this..."

Click

"I wish I was dedicated enough to line up days before the release to get a copy... the gamers who did must be dedicated..."

Click

"Sold out online in seconds and all the hardcore gamers bought the in store copies in a matter of..."

Click

"Thanos Starling the creator of Ear..."

Click

"Today thousands of gamers will be logging..."

Wait what was that last one... Click

"For those of you that have been living under a rock for the last couple of months, EMDO is played using the Nerve Gear created Starling and produced by Hammer-Industries, essentially a helmet that transports the player into the virtual online world."

Tony rolled his eyes, was she stupid or something the Nerve Gear was way more than a helmet, it was a virtual reality helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds, it was the work of a pure genius. Created by one of the most amazing gaming designers in the world Thanos Starling it was quite literally a work of art even if it was funded by Hammer industries.

"Sir..." Jarvis' called knocking softly.

"He's not coming is he J?" opening the door.

"No Sir, he had an important business meeting to attend to."

"That's fine J, it's not the first birthday they have missed and it most definitely won't be the last" Tony smiled but there was no humor "I guess once again J it's just you and me, happy sixteenth birthday to me"

"Sir, your mother's plane has landed early and she has asked that I drop her to the gala"

"That's fine J; I was going to play my new video game anyway so its fine really, Mother is always going from one charity or gala to the next it's not surprising that she forgot" he sighed "it's not important anyway"

"Anthony" Jarvis smiled and held out a slice a cake with a single candle on it that he seemingly produced out of thin air "Happy Birthday"

"Thanks J" Tony smiled widely it was an unspoken tradition had been for as long as he could remember that on his birthday Jarvis would bring him a slice of cake and a single candle as a silent remind Tony that even though his parents may have forgotten, Jarvis hadn't.

Tony blew out the candle and set the cake on his desk, turning to Jarvis Tony gave him a quick hug before checking his clock.

11.58am

"J, the games about to start, I have to get ready"

"I'll be off then sir, do have a good birthday and please keep out of trouble" Jarvis smiled as he left the room closing the door behind him.

"You know me J, when have I ever gotten into trouble" Tony called after him hearing Jarvis laugh on the other side of the door.

As Jarvis' footsteps faded away, Tony sighed once more.

Why did he let himself believe that his parents would come home for his birthday, sometimes Tony wondered if they would have even noticed his disappearance last summer if it were not for Jarvis.

Last summer

Tony felt panic rising painfully in his chest just thinking about it.

"Get you fucking head in the game Stark" he muttered to himself

Why oh fucking why would he go there ... he had just stopped thinking about it and now here he was again, it was like he could never escape being a freak of nature... he couldn't even pretend for a moment that he was normal, like he wasn't...

NO, I AM NOT GOING THERE... GET YOUR FUCKING HEAD IN THE FUCKING GAME STARK.

Rolling his eyes at his own stupidity, he plugged the nerve gear into his laptop and started it up.

Sliding the helmet over his head Tony lay on his bed.

11.59

Time to be someone else he smirked

"LINK START" he commanded closing his eyes

*Visual Online*

*Sound Online*

*Connection Online*

*Ready*

**WELCOME TO EARTH'S MIGHTIEST DEFENDERS ONLINE! **


	2. A new friend in the Town of Beginnings

_**Previously on EMDO:**_

_Time to be someone else he smirked _

"_LINK START," he commanded closing his eyes_

_*Visual Online*_

_*Sound Online*_

_*Connection Online*_

_*Ready*_

_**WELCOME TO EARTH'S MIGHTIEST DEFENDERS ONLINE!**_

* * *

Tony blinked; he could hear his heart pounding in his chest.

"I'm finally here" Tony smiled moving his hands around to get used to the new motion

First task is to raise my combat stats; Tony smirked looking around the Town Square.

This was going to be easy.

Tony bought a sword, nothing fancy until he raised his stats, its standard procedure in these sorts of games that when you die you usually lose whatever your holding so there was no use in buying anything of real value until he got his stats up, he wasn't an idiot.

Now to find an empty field, Tony pulled up his map, studying it for a moment before deciding to head to a field at the town boarder. Tony ran maneuvering his way through the town feeling freer and more care free with every step.

"HEY... HEY YOU THERE" a Booming voice yelled behind him

Tony stopped and turned around just as another boy ran up to him puffing and gasping, resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"Me?"

"You move like you've been here before" The boy stood up pushing his shoulder length blond hair out of his eyes.

"Nope" Tony frowned confused where this was going.

"Are you certain? You see, today is my first day, show me some basics please!" the boy moved forward putting a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Ummm...I don't know what to tell you man, I wasn't a beta tester although I wish I was" Tony paused, this was not the plan and this was definitely not what he wanted to be doing on his first day

"Oh... sorry I thought you could help me" the boy moved away slowly pouting as if Tony had kicked his puppy and then locked it into a trash can.

Damn it

"Dude, wait ... I haven't played this game before but I have played a lot of similar games and I have used the nerve gear before in other games" Tony sighed

"You will help me friend?" The boy grinned and Tony felt like he had just been played

Tony sighed

"I'm Tony"

"I am Thor"

* * *

Bang!

Thump!

"BY THE NINE, RIGHT IN THE CROTCH!" Thor fell to the ground, curled up hands between his legs.

"Come on Point Break, you know we can't actually feel any pain in this game world right" Tony laughed amused at Thor's antics.

"Oh" Thor got up rubbing the back of his head awkwardly for a moment "I am sorry my friend"

"Don't worry about it; it was actually quite amusing seeing a big guy like you rolling on the floor, it's not something you see every day"

Thor laughed loudly as he picked up his knife "Aye Anthony tis not everyday a fearsome beast catches me of guard"

Tony rolled his eyes at the fearsome beast comment but let it slide.

"I told you Thor, it's all about your initial motion Input"

"I know friend, I know ... But the beast keeps moving... just I do not understand how I..." Thor trailed off motioning to the 'beast'.

"Look big guy I'll show you" Tony looked around before picking up a rock

"If you do the motion input right" Tony tossed the rock up in the air before catching it again aiming at the animal in front of him " and activate a sword skill" he then held the rock up in the air behind his head until it glowed red before he chucked the rock.

Bang! Squeal!

"The system will insure that the technique connects" Tony smiled over at Thor who was watching him with amazement.

"Are you sure you were not a beta tester Anthony?"

"No Thor I have clearly been lying to you and I totally got the chance to be a beta tester"

"Friend there was no need to lie... did you not trust the friendship offered by my hand?" Thor frowned looking hurt

"Thor buddy, I was joking" Tony rolled his eyes (something he found himself doing more often than not in Thor's company) "now remember motion input... now you try"

"Ah you jest friend... I now understand" Thor nodded smiling "motion input... motion input" he repeated to himself

Thor circled around 'beast' for a moment trying to attack and stumbling over.

"Ok big guy try again but this time ... how do I say this" Tony paused for a moment "add a slight pause when you feel the skill begin to activate... then let it explode"

"Explode" Thor frowned thinking about it for a moment. Then as if he realized what Tony meant he changed his stance and moved to attack once again wildly charging at the beast before he attacked with a battle cry.

"AHHHHGGGUGUHUGUH" he cried

Watching as the beast's health bar drained and it shattered into pieces.

Result

Exp: 24

Col: 3 coins

Items: 2

"I DID IT, I DEFEATED THE UNGODLY BEAST," Thor cheered

"Congratulations" Tony gave Thor a pat on the back

"I couldn't have done it without you friend" Thor smiled widely

"You did a good job, it just that that imp you just defeated is the equivalent of slimes in other games"

Thor who had just been about to lay on the grass shot up instantly "Seriously, do not mock me Anthony ... I thought it was a strong foe, strong enough to be a mid level boss or something"

"Sorry big guy...but there is no way that a imp would be a boss of any kind" Tony tilted his head to the side where two more imps appeared.

"Anthony look" Thor exclaimed suddenly indicating to his knife which had upgraded to a long dagger.

"Pretty exciting, yeah" amused Tony watched Thor wave his dagger around excitedly.

"There are a lot of skills in this world isn't there, like blacksmithing, cooking and stuff?" Thor asked still playing with the dagger.

"Yep, from what I've heard there are an unlimited amount of skills, however there is a limited amount of magic and 'superpowers'" Tony paused

"If you want to be like a comic book hero you need to do certain dangerous quests and even then sometimes if the power is not compatible you might die and have to start all the way back in the town of beginners"

"Really? ... but isn't that a risk giving all players in this world a limited amount of resources like magic?" Thor frowned

"Yeah I guess and from what I've heard from the forums online the physics and science behind things can't be messed with"

Seeing the confused look on Thor's face Tony decided to elaborate.

"I mean that to create something in this world it has to be in the realm of possibility back home, an example would be time travel, to create time travel in this world it would have to be manageable in the real world, the physics and science behind it would have to be accurate... I mean even magic is a form of science but just you wait, those pompous magic users will disagree"

"You do not wish to become a sorcerer or superhero friend Tony?"

"Nope, I'm an engineer at heart; I'll create things to help defeat the monsters and get through all 100 levels of the tower"

"You do not wish for the glory of the battle field? Surely you jest friend?"

"Point break, you know that this game isn't all about battle right, there is planning and building skills and so many other things involved in this than just blindly rushing into battle"

"Ah I see, you are like my brother"

"Your brother is a billion... a guy who hates magic?"

"No friend, my brother like you does not believe that rushing into battle is not the way a war is won, he believes we fight like Bilgesnipe, destroying everything in our path"

"Wait like bill-get-what? ... You know what ... don't even try to explain" Tony smiled shaking his head

Thor swung his dagger around a couple of times "what about mutants, I have heard a lot of talk about them... do you think they are real?"

"I'm guessing so, Thanos is amazing, if anyone could pull something like this off it would be him."

"Aye, my brother would not stop talking about the creator and how his work was beyond his time"

"Thor buddy, I feel like you should introduce me to your brother, I bet we'd get along...and I'm sure I could show him a good time... if you know what I mean" Tony winked at Thor only to be knocked to the ground.

"DO NOT EVEN JEST ABOUT SUCH THINGS ANTHONY," Thor growled

"Wow... wow easy there big guy ... I didn't mean to offend you or anything like that... well I kinda did but you know... no hard feelings or anything right?"

"Aye friend, I know you did not mean to challenge my honor or the honor of my kin with your foolish words," Thor offered a hand helping Tony off the ground.

"Anyway as I was going to say about your mutant question, the mutants will have probably been chosen at random or maybe by doing a certain quests, I'm not too sure but I'm guessing it would be the same with super hero powers." Tony paused "Most super heroes have super powers from being non human like superman, some scientific experiment gone wrong(or right depending on how you look at it), from an object like the green lantern or being a vigilante like batman"

"I do not understand how will it work here as we are all human?"

"I'm not too sure; I've got a theory that we might have to complete certain quests to get certain powers but it's all speculation until we get out of the town of beginners and find out for ourselves"

Thor once again started slashing his dagger around this time activating his skill before he slashed at thin air looking pleased with himself.

"It's a lot more fun moving your whole body while fighting isn't it" Tony grinned

"Verily this is the game of gods"

Tony laughed feeling more carefree than he had when he first woke up this morning, Thor was one of a kind "Alright, let's try again"

"Yes, let's keep going!"

* * *

Tune in for next week's chapter on EMDO :)


	3. Logging out?

_Thanks to my two reviewers: Westwindwaker and Shreiking Beauty I hope i can pull of a VRMMORPG based fanfiction off and although i have yet to find one for the avengers specifically, i'm sure there must be some out there :) _

_on another note only one more chapter to go before we get a LOKI CHAPTER OR THREE :)  
_

_Also sorry for not updating sooner, hopefully if all goes well this week you shall have another installment on saturday ... ohh and for those of you who are following my shield high story, i will be posting up the next chapter later on tonight so ... read it .. please :P  
_

_**Disclaimer: i do not own the Avengers ( although like all fan girls i wish i did ) nor do i own sword art online which i am basing this story upon ( at least in the beginning) there are going to be differences so if you haven't watched it and like anime then i do suggest watching it cause it's AMAZING ...**_

* * *

**Previously on EMDO:**

"It's a lot more fun moving your whole body while fighting isn't it" Tony grinned

"Verily this is the game of gods"

Tony laughed feeling more carefree than he had when he first woke up this morning, Thor was one of a kind "Alright, let's try again"

"Yes, let's keep going!"

_A few hours later_

"I still cannot believe that this place is not real... that we are in a game, it matters not how long I stay and experience this world" Thor commented as they sat on the grass overlooking the sun that had set over the virtual world.

"I truly believe my brother now when he said the man who created this game was a genius"

"It is amazing even for someone like me who has done a full dive with the nerve gear before; the way this place is set out, everything feels so real in a way that no game has ever before, I can hardly imagine how this must be for you Blondie" Tony smirked

"In my haste to acquire a copy of the game I may have forgotten that the gear was needed" Thor blushed as Tony laughed loudly

"You must understand friend, I knew that the game required the gear, but I had forgotten that we only had one and that was my brother's and... well I fear that my brother is not fond of me"

"So, what you bought the hardware to play EMDO? Did you buy the game in stores?"

"Yes, we were really lucky to get one of the ten thousand copies were we not?"

"Well yeah... I guess" Tony bitterly thought that it wasn't luck in his case but more like being the pathetic son of a billionaire that Howard's rich business contacts want to suck up to in hopes that it will sway his dad's favour. Little did they know that his dear old 'dad' didn't give two shits about anything Tony has ever done but then again the Starks were always good at playing happy families, despite being fucked up behind closed doors.

As it was Hammer Industries had given Tony a copy of the game, hours before it was released to the public. Tony knew better than to think they were giving it to him as anything other than a way to butter Howard up for their proposed joint project with Stark Industries. So no there was no luck involved on Tony's part but well he wasn't going to tell his new buddy Thor that, while the boy sometime came off kind of dense, he was cool to hang out with and Tony ... well Tony didn't have a lot of friends ( at least friends who actually liked Tony).

"But I'll tell you who is really lucky big guy" Tony began realising that he was quiet for a bit too long "Your brother, I mean to be a beta tester... that would have been amazing"

"Ah... yes only one thousand people got to test the game out" Thor agreed

"How far did he get up the tower of doom?"

"Over a couple of months from what I heard of him talking to his friends... it seems as though my brother only got up to level 8... He is adamant however that he will be able to do it in a month this time around and I do not doubt him"

"Wow so I guess he is really into this isn't he?"

"I think I should make it very clear Anthony that whist my brother is not fond of me at the moment, I am very fond of him... therefore I do not think I like where you are going with this, _friend_" Thor's voice held a warning

Tony held up his hands in the sign of surrender "I didn't mean it like that big guy... I understand now that I am here... If I had been, a tester EMDO would be all I thought about day and night... I've only been here for a few hours and I know it's a virtual world but I still feel more alive here than I do in the real world" Tony stopped suddenly aware that he was about to start pouring his heart and soul out to some guy that he just met a couple of hours ago.

"Well Goldilocks, now that I'm made a fool out of myself wanna go hunt some more?"

"Aye friend we shall slay the ungodly beasts" Thor cheered moving to jump up before clutching his stomach "on the other hand, I am in great need of sustenance; before we march into battle I fear that I will have to log out"

"It's a downside I guess of being in a virtual world, eating food here only makes you feel as though you're not hungry"

"But I am prepared, I have ordered Pizza for myself and my brother which will come at 5.30pm, but fear not friend once I have eaten I will be back" Thor smiled widely

"I see" Tony muttered helping Thor up from the ground

"I am meeting my valiant friends and hopefully my brother after this, you are welcome to join us"

Tony bit his lip, it wasn't that he didn't want to friend Thor's friend it's just that he'd never been good with the whole meet and greet people thing. Most people generally assumed he was snotty or stuck up, weird or socially awkward and sure that's sorta changed since he finished high school but he's still the rich geeky weird child who stays off campus. He has a total of three maybe friends but then again it's not like anyone will know that it's...

"Friend ... are you listening?" Thor's voice boomed breaking Tony from his thoughts

"Huh?"

"I just said that it is fine if you do not wish to join us that it will not offend me" Thor grinned, "I shall introduce you at another time, I believe that you will get along well with my brother"

"Yeah, sorry" Tony frowned, here he was being totally socially awkward and Thor still wanted to hang out with him... something was seriously wrong with this dude but still, it was nice knowing that Tony's weirdness didn't scare him off "Thanks"

"No friend it is I who should be thanking you, I shall repay you for your kindness friend" Thor clapped him on the back "Mentally," he added smiling

Tony laughed

"I shall see you around friend" Thor exclaimed as they shook hands

"If you need any help with anything just send me a message"

"I will do that, but Good bye for now my friend" Thor moved away from Tony waving enthusiastically before opening up his menu screen, the options appearing in front of him accompanied by a soft chime.

"Huh?"

Tony turned back around facing Thor

"Friend the log out button is not here"

"Look closer Blondie of course it is" Tony rolled his eyes; Thor must be really hungry if he can't even see a log out button.

"No it is not there," Thor, stated sounding confused

He moved towards Thor "At the bottom of the main menu..."

Tony decided then to open up his own menu screen, clicking on the gear button:

Options

Help

Blank

Tony frowned, he'd read the guide book cover to cover before logging on, the log out button should be right under the help button, this wasn't right.

"See it's not there"

"No, it isn't"

"Well..." Thor turned around to face him "Tis only the first day out of beta, there are bound to be many unforseen complications" He laughed walking closer to Tony "I am sure the server people are very worried about this"

"Yeah well, I'm sure you're going to be very worried about these unforseen complications when you see the time, its 5.25"

Thor fell to his knees looking heartbroken "MY MEAT SUPREME PIZZA WITH EXTRA EVERYTHING AND ROOTBEER..."

"Dude ... chill; just call the game master already"

Thor stopped freaking out and opened up the main menu screen pressing the game master button "My button seems to not be working friend, very little is happening when I press the button"

Tony sat down on the grass "Dude if we can't get through to the game master then we are screwed, the only way to log out is through the log out button on the main menu"

"That's cannot be right Anthony, there must be another way" Jumping up and down Thor started to yell waving his hands around

"Escape"

"Log Out"

"Release me"

"Finished"

"Goldilocks, just calm down for a second, look I'm telling you I read that god damned manual cover to cover and there was no emergency log out in the manual either"

"You must be mistaken; there must be a way... I know I shall simply rip the nerve gear off my head," Thor stated gripping both sides of his head and pulling upwards.

"You can't, seriously just stop and listen to me Thor man , we can't move our real bodies while we are wearing the nerve gear, it intercepts our electrical impulses , essentially cutting off any actions that we tell our bodies to do in the virtual world so we don't actually do them in the real world"

"Are you certain, does this mean that we have to wait until they fix the problem?"

"Or for someone in the real world to remove the nerve gear from us" Tony added grimly

"But my brother and I are both in the game; my parents are out of town for the week, what about you?"

"I won't be missed, let's just leave it at that"

"Surely there is someone who will notice you are not around"

"My Bu- Jarvis, yeah Jarvis or maybe Pepper will notice"

"I understand that this Jarvis is a friend of yours and will hence be able to take off the gear as you cannot, but I fail to see how a condiment will aid you in any way"

Tony let out a humorless laugh "Pepper is a person Thor, more specifically she is my sort of girlfriend, who sort of cheated on me but then we have an on again off again kind of relationship so she sort of didn't cheat on me. It's complicated; let's just leave it at that"

"I do not understand the mind of females either, my dear friend Sif and I once pursued a relationship but alas it was not meant to be" Thor paused looking thoughtful

"We could not fight valiant battles side by side on quests of glory as we would always end up fighting, although friend I am curious as how your friend was named after a condiment"

"Well hey now, point break what kind of name is Thor, or Loki or Sif for that matter, if those are normal people names god knows what you'd name your pets"

"Surely you did not mean offense; it is tradition and a great honor to be named after the Norse gods"

Tony shook his head "sorry dude, I didn't mean it like that it's just been a long day that's all, Pepper is a nickname... more importantly Thor, don't you find this a bit weird"

"Verily I agree, there is something not right with this situation"

"Sometimes I forget that you're the definition of weird and then you go and say words like verily and go all Shakespeare on me and I can't remember what made me think you were normal"

Thor opened his mouth to protest but tony continued over him "It not just a bug, think about it Hercules, if we can't log out that'll pose a serious problem for the game's future"

"Come to think of it you are right, the sun has already gone down in this world, and if they really wanted to they would have done something by now right?"

"Yeah, they could have shut down the server and logged everyone out like that, but what has me worried is that there hasn't even been an announcement"

**DING **

**DING**

**DING**

Tony and Thor both spun around wildly looking for the bell that was ringing

"It seems to be..."

But whatever Thor was about to say was cut off as they were both abruptly teleported to the town of beginnings.

Looking around both boys immediately noticed that it wasn't only them, it seemed like every player in the game was being teleported back to the town square, in the open area near the clock tower.

Players were chatting loudly glancing around uneasily as the bell continued to ring with each **Ding** more players seemed to appear, no one seemed to know what was going on.

"A player wide forced teleport, what the hell is going on?" Tony muttered looking around through the crowd of people.

"OH MY GOD ... LOOK UP THERE," Someone in the crowd shouted, soon the whole area was filled with players looking up and pointing as the sky turned red and the words:

**WARNING  
SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT **

Written over and over again in black text filled the air above their heads.

The words and the red sky seemed to then ooze a red liquid like substance which pooled over the clock tower coming together to form a large hooded figure in red and gold hovering in front of the players.

"What the hell" Thor murmured

All around them, the frantic chatter of other players could be heard.

"Is that a game master?"

"What the hell is going on?"

"I'm scared"

"Is this an event?"

"It's going to be fine"

"Why doesn't it have a head?"

"I'll protect you"

"Clearly this is all part of the opening ceremony"

"I'm not scared"

"Total hoax"

"... Pretending we couldn't log out just to keep the suspense"

"_**ATTENTION PLAYERS. WELCOME TO MY WORLD"**_the figure started

"My world?" Tony frowned but that would mean...

"_**MY NAME IS THANOS STARLING AND AS OF THIS MOMENT I AM THE SOLE PERSON WHO CAN CONTROL THIS WORLD."**_


End file.
